Residents didn't ask for this

In response to a letter to the editor from Turner Simkins (“Improve North Augusta’s future,” Aug. 20), we will attempt to show a different point of view.

We are people who are labeled “naysayers” because we dare openly disagree. While Mr. Simkins says we should “try to recognize the worthiness of a good idea when we see one,” he implies that Project Jackson obviously is one. We should also be able to recognize a bad idea when we see one. So, is this idea good or is it bad?

We retired to Hammond’s Ferry from out of state. We moved because of Hammond’s Ferry, not because of North Augusta, which we later discovered to be a great city in which to live. We were sold on the lifestyle offered by Hammond’s Ferry and bought in before any infrastructure existed.

Mr. Simkins quotes the original charrette: “The project is designed as a collection of walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods which extend the historic town of North Augusta, reconnecting the town with its riverfront. The project will contain more than 1,000 new homes, condominiums and apartments, as well as business and civic uses, and excellent new parks and public spaces fronting the river.” That is what we bought into. We did not buy into a baseball stadium in our back yard, nor does the charrette mention one. Neither, we must add, do any of the sales brochures.

What we are afraid of is that folks who support this project, the “yea-sayers,” do not understand that Project Jackson by definition includes the stadium – and that a plan was voted on some months back by our city council that incorporates and embraces the nucleus of the original goals offered by the charrette as quoted above.

It is fallacious to conclude that anyone is “vying for exclusivity over inclusivity” simply because they do not want a baseball stadium in their neighborhood.

We have seen up-close and personal the failings of many other stadiums. As their financial situations deteriorate, the normal “fix” is to bring in other entertainment. Some of this is less than desirable to most people. Then the end of the story is that the team decides they need bigger or better, so they move on to greener pastures – much the same as the GreenJackets are attempting to do now to Augusta.

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The problem is the Hammonds Ferry developer wants out. He sold the western half of the area because he is cash strapped. He found the baseball team owner who sub bids out hotels to cash out on the eastern end. The baseball team owner says he won't bring hotel, unless the City builds a stadium.

ANSWER: We have found a developer who will deliver a high-end hotel and other retail without a stadium and without TIF money --- City refuses to talk to us.